Crown cap feeder device for bottle stopper fitting machine



Dec. 1970 'SADAO NOGUCHl ,5

CROWN CAP FEEDER DEVICE FOR BOTTLE STOPPER FITTING MACHINE Filed April 11, 1969 2 Sheets-Sheet l FIG.1

" was 1 j E E 2 ('5: Q q c 4 3 n c i INVENTOR.

nT'roM EqS 'Dec. 15, 1970 s Q uq-fi 3546,84?

v CROWN CAP FEEDER DEVICE FOR BOTTLE STOPPER FITTING MACHINE Filed April 11. 1969 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG.'7'

FIG.5

FIG.8

INVENTOR. 5111960 10 6 uc H! 71 wwflu United States Patent 3,546,847 Patented Dec. 15, 1970 3,546,847 CROWN CAP FEEDER DEVICE FOR BOTTLE STOPPER FITTING MACHINE Sadao Noguchi, Nagoya, Japan, assignor to Mitsubishi Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo, Japan Filed Apr. 11, 1969, Ser. No. 815,298 Int. Cl. 1365b 57/02, 7/28 US. Cl. 53-64 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A crown cap feeding device comprises a plurality of stopper fitting hammers mounted, for revolution about a common circular locus, at substantially equiangular intervals, a crown cap hopper above the hammers and partition means dividing the hopper into plural sections. A corresponding number of crown cap chutes have their upper ends communicating with respective hopper sections, and the lower ends of the chutes are arranged at selected angularly spaced positions on the locus of revolution of the hammers. Thereby, crown caps can be fed to the hammers through any one of the cap chutes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In a known bottle stopper fitting machine, a plurality of stopper fitting hammers are arranged at equal angular intervals along a common circumference centered on a main shaft and supported for a revolution about the main shaft as well as for vertical reciprocation by means of a cam on the main shaft. When each hammer reaches a predetermined position, a crown cap is fed from a hopper through a chute to a receiver positioned under the hammer.

These crown caps are aligned one by one in a predetermined direction as they are supplied from the hopper, by rotation of a selector disk, so that they fall through the chute in alignment and are continuously fed from the end of the chute to the receiver. However, since the cap feeding capacity has an upper limit, if the stopper fitting hammers are operated at a high speed, the cap feeding cannot follow the high operating speed and thus a hammer may be reciprocated against the upper end of a bottle, supplied by a star wheel, without securing a cap on the bottle. As a result, there is a substantial number of defective products or else the stopper fitting capacity has a low value such as 500 bottles per minute. This is presently the case when the revolving speed of the hammers is decreased to a value sutficiently low so as not to miss a bottle stopper.

On the other hand, by improvement of the existing crown cap feeder device, a certain increase in capacity may be expected. However, in such a case an increased accuracy of positioning of the crown caps will be required, and various complicated problems, such as an increase in cost, may result.

More particularly, as the crown caps are fed through the chute, they may be blocked by a cap hanging up in the chute or, if a crown cap cannot descend smoothly from the upper end of the chute to the lower, there is a risk of missing the fitting of a bottle stopper or cap due to the absence of a cap at the cap receiver.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to cap feeding devices for bottle stopper fitting machines and, more particularly, to an improved and simplified cap feeding device substantially increasing the output capacity of the stopper fitting machine.

In accordance with the invention, the crown cap feeding device includes a crown cap hopper above the fitting hammers and divided by partition means into plural sections. A corresponding number of cap feeding chutes connect the respective hopper sections to cap receivers, with the lower ends of the chutes being arranged at equal angular intervals around the locus of revolution of the bottle stopper fitting hammers.

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved crown cap feeding device in a bottle stopper feeding machine.

Another object of the invention is to provide such an improved feeding device which can operate with a high efficiency.

A. further object of the invention is to provide such an improved crown cap feeding device which will operate efficiently so that no bottle will pass through the bottle stopper fitting machine without having a cap fitted thereto.

Another object of the invention is to provide such an improved crown cap feeding device which can achieve high speed continuous operation without damaging the crown caps.

For an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference is made tothe following description of typical embodiments thereof as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional view of a known form of bottle stopper fitting machine;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of one form of crown cap feeding device embodying the invention;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are partial vertical sectional views of the feeding device shown in FIG. 1 showing different operating phases thereof;

FIG. 5 is a horizontal sectional view taken along the line V-V of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a schematic wiring diagram of a control device in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 7 is a plan view of another embodiment of a crown cap feeding device in accordance with the invention; and

FIG. 8 is a plan view of still another embodiment of a crown cap feeding device in accordance with the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 illustrates a known form of bottle stopper fitting machines including a plurality of stopper fitting hammers 3 arranged at equal intervals around the circumference of a circle centered on a main shaft 1. Hammers 3 are supported for revolution around the circle circumference, which constitutes a locus of revolution, and also supported for vertical reciprocation by means of a cam 2 fixed to main shaft 1. When hammers 3 come to a predetermined position during revolution thereof, a crown cap 6 is fed through a chute 4 to a crown cap receiver 5 provided beneath the fitting hammers 3.

During this operation, crown caps 6 are aligned one by one in a predetermined direction as they are supplied from a hopper 7, by rotation of a selector disk 8, and caused to fall in alignment through chute 4 so that they can be fed continuously and successively from the end of chute 4 to crown cap receiver 5. However, since the crown cap feeding capacity naturally has an upper limit, if the hammers are revolved at a high speed, the feeding of the crown caps cannot keep up with the operating speed. Consequently, when a hammer 3 is reciprocated by cam 2 toward a bottle 10, supplied by a star wheel 9, to fit a stopper to bottle 10, there may be no crown cap present in receiver 5 for securement to bottle 10. The result has been that bottles will pass through the machine without having caps fitted thereto, or else the stopper fitting capacity has had to be reduced to a low value such as 500 bottles per minute. Actually, this is about the rate of operation with the machine shown in FIG. 1, as an operational rate higher than this would result in bottles not having caps fitted thereto as they pass through the machine.

Crown caps 6 are adapted to descend successively and in alignment from hopper 7 through chute 4, so as to be fed one by one to cap receiver when a fitting hammer '6 passes through the lower end of chute 6. Under such conditions, if either a crown cap is stuck within chute 4 and blocked from descent, by any cause, or if a crown cap cannot descend smoothly from the upper feeding port of the chute, there is a risk of not fitting a cap to a bottle passing through the machine due to absence of a crown cap from receiver 5.

In accordance with the present invention, these disadvantages of the prior art apparatus, such as shown in FIG. 1 are obviated by providing a crown cap feeding device which comprises a plurality of fitting hammers arranged at equal angular intervals for revolution along a common circular locus, a crown cap hopper disposed above the hammer and divided into two or more sections by means of one or more partitions, and crown cap chutes equal in number to the hopper sections. Each chute has its upper end connected to the hopper, and the lower ends of the chutes are disposed at appropriate angular intervals along the locus of revolution of the fitting hammers. Thereby, upon revolution of the fitting hammers, the crown caps may be fed to the hammers through any one of the plural crown cap chutes.

With this arrangement, a bottle stopper fitting hammer which fails to receive a crown cap from chute located at a first position will rotate with its cap receiver kept empty, and thus can receive a crown cap when it comes to the next chute located at an appropriate angular interval from the first chute. Thus, since the hammers can be fed with caps from any one of the chutes, even if the machine is operated at high speed, the feeding of crown caps to the hammers can always be carried out reliably so there is no risk that a hammer will be revolved to the bottle stopper fitting station with its crown cap fitting receiver empty. Thereby, the capacity of the apparatus can be increased to more than 1,000 bottles per minute without missing fitting of a bottle stopper, thus enhancing the output of a bottling plant.

In accordance with a further feature of the invention, detector means are provided midway of the chutes for detecting the presence or absence of crown caps within the chutes, and stop means are provided at the lower ends of the respective chutes and are arranged to be projected into the chutes responsive to a command signal from the detector means when there is no crown cap in the associated chute. This has the advantage that, when the number of crown caps within a chute has been reduced to below a predetermined value, at which crown caps can be smoothly transferred to the crown cap receivers of the hammers, feeding of the caps to the receivers is automatically interrupted to avoid accidental pinching of the crown cap between the receiver and the end of the chute, which would crush the crown cap. Thereby, switching from a crown cap feeder device at a first position to another crown cap feeder device at the next succeeding position may be effected smoothly to enable a continuous operation of the entire machine.

The detector means may include a photoelectric device disposed in opposition, across a bored portion of a crown cap chute, to a lamp or the like. This arrangement will detect the presence or absence of crown caps in the chute at the bored portion, and a signal from the photoelectric device will effect operation of the stop means at the lower end of the chute. An advantage of this arrangement is that, when the feeding of the crown caps is resumed, there is no risk that the leading cap, moving downwardly 4 through the chute, will fall abruptly to the end of the chute and thus protrude beyond the inner edge thereof. Thereby, accidental crushing of the crown cap between the receiver and the end of the chute can be avoided.

Referring more particularly to FIGS. 2-6, two crown cap feeding devices having in common the hopper 7 are provided with selector disks 8a and 8-1) and chutes 4a and 4b. Each has the same construction and operation as the prior art crown cap feeding device illustrated in FIG. 1. The feeding devices of FIGS. 2 through 6 are disposed in a V-shaped arrangement on the opposite sides of bottle stopper fitting hammers 3, which also have the same construction and function as those shown in FIG. 1. More particularly, the sections taken along the lines X -X and Xz-Xz of FIG. 2. would appear the same as the section shown in FIG. 1. However, only a single hopper 1 is provided, and the respective sections thereof are defined by partitions 7 within the hopper. Star wheels 9a and 9b are provided for feeding and removing bottles.

The crown capsin hopper 7 which is divided into sections 7a and 7b defined by partitions 7 is divided into two groups by means of these partitions and the caps are aligned in a predetermined direction one by one by Iotation of a respective selector disk 8a and 8b and dropped in alignment through the respective chutes 4a and 4b. The caps are continually fed one by one in succession from the respective crown cap feeding ends 4a and 4b of the chutes to the crown cap receivers 5 of the bottle stopper fitting hammers which have just reached the feeding ends of the chutes by revolution of the hammers.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, a photoelectric device is shown at 11, 11 and is mounted with its parts in opposed relation across a bored portion 12 comprising, for example, small bores drilled at appropriate positions along each chute 4a or 4b. A relay is illustrated at 13 and a three-way electromagnetic valve is illustrated at 14, these members constituting detector means 15 for detecting either the presence or absence of crown caps within a chute such as the chute 4a with which the chute 4b is identical.

A pressurized air line is shown at 16 and is controlled, midway of its length, by electromagnetic valve 14 so that communication between the two sections of the line may either be maintained or may be blocked with opening to the outer atmosphere. The extremity of line 16 is positioned near the end portion 4a in chute 4a.

A cylindrical body 17 is fixed to end portion 4a and, within body 17, there is slidably mounted a control rod 19 which is normally biased outwardly by means of a spring 18. The portion of body 17 outwardly of control rod .119 communicates with the pressure air line 16 through a metallic coupling member or nipple 20.

The operation of the bottle stopper fitting apparatus just-described will now be explained. Assuming that the bottle stopper fitting hammers 3 are revolved at a high speed in order to attain a high output capacity of the apparatus, then, even if feeding of a crown cap to a fitting hammer 3 from one of the chutes, such as the chute 4a at a forward position, should fail by virtue of the fact that the number of fitting hammers 3 passing the crown cap feeding portions 4a and 4b of the respective chutes 4a and 4b exceeds the crown feeding capacity of a respective chute, such as the chute 4a, a crown cap would be fed to the crown cap receiver of the same fitting hammer 3 from the succeeding chute 41). Consequently, fitting hammers 3, which are revolved in the direction shown by the arrow B of FIG. 2", will complete bottle stopper fitting at predetermined region with respect to all the bottles fed by a star wheel 9b which is rotated in the direction shown by the arrow C.

Thus, during bottle stopper fitting, crown caps 6 are fed from hopper section 7a to chute 4a and aligned in the chute by rotation of selector disk 8a so that they fill chute 4a as shown in FIG. 3. When the rate at which hammers 3 pass chute 4a does not exceed the crown cap feeding capacity of this chute, the filled state of chute 4a is maintained so that, in the bored portion of chute 4a, there is always present a crown cap which blocks the optical path between photoelectric devices 11-11. Thus, relay 13 and the three-way electromagnetic valve 14 are maintained unoperated so that pressure air in line 16 is exhausted to atmosphere and control rod 19 is biased to its retracted position by spring 18.

Conversely, if the rate at which hammers 3 pass the chute 4a exceeds the feeding capacity of this chute, the number of caps within the chute would gradually decrease until the condition shown in FIG. 4 is reached, in which the highest crown cap 6 is below the bored portion 12. Under this condition, the optical path between photoelectric devices 11 and 11 is clear, so that the circuit for electromagnetic valve 14 is closed by relay 13 to connect air line .16 to feed pressure air to the body 17. Consequently, control rod 19 is projected to block chute 4a, and against the bias of spring 18, thereby stopping feeding of the crown caps. Thereupon, the other crown cap feeding device 4b at the next succeeding position takes over the role of feeding crown caps to the fitting hammers. However, during this period of time, the partially empty chute 4a is supplied with crown caps from hopper sections 70 so that chute 4a is again filled with crown caps, to block the optical path between photoelectric devices 11 and 11 resulting in deenergization of relay 14 and electromagnetic valve 14. The pressure air in line 16 is then exhausted to atmosphere, so that the extremity 4a of chute 4a, which has been blocked by control rod 19', is unblocked and the crown cap feeding chute 4a can again perform a crown cap feeding role.

It should be noted that, although the detector means and the stopper means are illustrated as provided in the chute 4a, which is the leading chute, such detector and stopper means may be provided in each of these chutes.

FIGS. 7 and 8 illustrate alternative embodiments of the invention. In these embodiments of the invention, the construction and the operation of the crown cap feeding device and the bottle stopper fitting hammers, as well as the functioning thereof, are the same as in the embodiments shown in FIGS. 2 through 6. The difference, in FIG. 7, is that the feeder devices are arranged in opposition in alignment with each other, rather than at right angles or at a 90 spacing relative to each other. In the embodiment of FIG. 8, three feeder devices are provided, one on each of three sides of a rectangular hopper which is sub-divided. As the arrangements of FIGS. 7 and 8 operate in the same manner as described for the embodiment of FIGS. 2 through 6, it is believed that detailed description of the operation thereof is not necessary.

What is claimed is:

1. A crown cap feeding device, for a bottle stopper fitting machine, comprising, in combination, a plurality of bottle stopper fitting hammers mounted, for revolution about a common circular locus, at substantially equiangular intervals; a crown cap hopper above said hammers; partition means dividing said hopper into plural sections; plural crown cap chutes, equal in number to said sections, each having an upper end communicating with a respective section, the lower ends of said chutes being arranged at selected angularly spaced positions on said locus; whereby, during revolution of said fitting hammers, crown caps may be fed to said hammers through any one of said chutes; detector means operatively associated with at least that one of said chutes which leads in the direction of rotation of said fitting hammers and operable to detect when the number of crown caps in said leading chute is below a preselected number; and stopper means adjacent the lower end of said leading chute and operable, by said detector means, to block said leading chute when the number of crown caps therein falls below said preselected number.

2. A crown cap feeding device, as claimed in claim 1, in which each of said chutes is provided with a respective detector means and a respective stopper means.

3. A crown cap feeding device, as claimed in claim 1, in which said detector means comprises a photoelectric detector having an optical path extending across said leading chute at a point spaced substantially from the lower end of said leading chute; said stopper means including a reciprocable stopper member mounted at the lower end of said leading chute for projection across said lower end of said leading chute to block movement of crown caps therealong; and means biasing said stopper member to a position retracted from said lower end of said leading chute.

4. A crown cap feeding device, as claimed in claim 3, including a source of fluid under pressure; an electromagnetic valve connected to said source, to atmosphere and to said stopper member; said electromagnetic valve normally connecting said stopper member to atmosphere and being operated by said photoelectric detector, when said optical path is uninterrupted, to connect said source of fluid under pressure to said stopper member to project said stopper member across the lower end of said leading chute.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,132,162 3/1915 ChiltOn 53311X 1,262,993 4/1918 Stewart 533 11 1,375,364 4/1921 Clark 53311X 2,661,103 12/1953 Fay et al. 53-59UX TRAVIS S. MCGEHEE, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 53-312 

